1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to computer systems. More particularly, it is directed to selecting portions of electronic images of a display within a computing environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various computer applications, such as graphics editing applications, can perform editing functions on digital images. Typically, such graphics editing applications provide a graphical user interface for manipulating digital images through various tools. For instance, a photographer might utilize a graphics editing application to adjust the brightness or contrast of a digital photograph. In another example, a web designer might utilize a graphics editing application to generate images for a web-based application. In some cases, a user of a graphics editing application may wish to edit only a part of a digital image. In these cases, the user may select a portion of the digital image on which to perform an editing function. For instance, the aforementioned graphical user interface may include one or more tools for selecting portions of an image. Typically, such tools may be responsive to user input, such as a user's movement of a pointing device (e.g., a mouse or other input device). In some cases, the graphics editing application may enable a user to perform one or more modifications to a selected portion of a digital image. For instance, instead of adjusting the brightness and contrast of an entire digital image, a photographer might utilize a graphics editing application to adjust the brightness and contrast of only a portion of the digital image.